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Ways of communicating research are changing. New technology has led to great advances in how people access information, but also in how people can present research in a visually engaging format. This has led to an increase in the use of data visualisation techniques -- both static and interactive -- by think tanks.

Think tanks all over the world are welcome to join our Data Storytelling session online on Tuesday, October 14th at 1pm GMT to get inspired for the projects to be submitted for the Data Visualisation Competition. Nika from Infogr.am will share the essentials of effective data storytelling with Infogr.am that engages large audiences.

Creating effective think tank data visualisations is no small feat -- it's about finding the appropriate mix of data, technology, design, and politics. This event will explore each of those areas in further detail and will highlight compelling examples from across the globe following the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation Competition. It will also serve to launch a new digital compilation of the 2013-14 competition entries and commentary.

Yet there may be another way that think tanks can spread their ideas to drive real change. We think this could begin by showing and not just telling. Instead of drafting policy papers describing how systems ought to work, think tanks should consider building software and data visualizations that demonstrate how systems can and do operate in practice. This is not as hard as it sounds -- there are some tried and tested steps worth considering.

After the end of the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation competition, we were able to catch up with the winner of the Third Round as well as the final overall winner of the competition, Michal Tošovský. Michal led the team at Otevrena spolecnost, o.p.s. -- a Czech think tank focusing on police and public security -- that is behind Mapping Czech Crime, a visualisation that we think does what it says on the tin and does it well!

The other week I had the good fortune of participating in an excellent meeting in Prague hosted by the Open Society Foundations: Policy Research, Technology and Advocacy Event @ the Hub. The event was designed to bring experts together from across Central and Eastern European think tanks to share ideas and learn from each other on innovative approaches to evidence-based advocacy and communications.

For the 2nd Round of the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation Competition, we had a completely different style of winner: the Budapest Institute submitted a poster called ‘Our Money’ that broke down the Hungarian annual budget so that it was easy for any citizen to understand. It was the subject of heated debate among the judges – especially the origins of the visualisation – so I thought I’d ask its creators, Petra Edina Reszkető, Balázs Váradi and Anna Orosz more about the posters and the project that brought them to fruition.

We’ve been continuing to scour the web for resources to help think tanks develop data visualisations and to get their ideas across to new audiences. A lot of the resources we found were designed to help with the technicalities of developing visualisations themselves. But we were intrigued when we came across SwayWhat, a tool that not only helps create charts, but also serves as a platform to share ideas. If I had to describe it in a sentence, it’s SlideShare for data visualisations – but it’s more ambitious for that. It hopes to bring evidence to the most political of discussions.
I had to find out more, so I got in touch with SwayWhat CEO, Noah Blumenthal, to understand better how think tanks might take advantage of their services.

Round 3 of the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation Competition is currently open for submissions(the deadline is 20 November at 23:59 GMT!)! The judges want it to be the biggest and the best round we've had so far so each of them has taken a minute to offer their advice when it comes to data visualisation -- what works, what doesn't, and what are they really looking for when judging the data visualisations. Today we hear from John Schwartz.

Round 3 of the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation Competition is currently open for submissions(the deadline is 20 November at 23:59 GMT!)! The judges want it to be the biggest and the best round we've had so far so each of them has taken a minute to offer their advice when it comes to data visualisation -- what works, what doesn't, and what are they really looking for when judging the data visualisations. Today we hear from Andrej Nosko.

Round 3 of the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation Competition is currently open for submissions(the deadline is 20 November at 23:59 GMT!)! The judges want it to be the biggest and the best round we've had so far so each of them has taken a minute to offer their advice when it comes to data visualisation -- what works, what doesn't, and what are they really looking for when judging the data visualisations. Today we hear from Leonora Merry.

Round 3 of the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation Competition is currently open for submissions(the deadline is 20 November at 23:59 GMT!)! The judges want it to be the biggest and the best round we've had so far so each of them has taken a minute to offer their advice when it comes to data visualisation -- what works, what doesn't, and what are they really looking for when judging the data visualisations. First we hear from Jeff Knezovich.

In this blog, which was written by Oriol Farrés, Project Manager at CIDOB for the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation Competition, the author argues that data visualisations can support both the research process as well as the communication process for think tanks.

The First Round of the On Think Tanks Data Visualisation Competition was won by the Mapping Arms Data visualisation. Submissions for Round 2 of the competition are open until 2 October 2013, and I wanted to find out more about how this technically advanced, visually stunning and information packed data visualisation came into being with the hopes of inspiring other think tanks to consider putting together their own (maybe not so advanced!) visualisations. As such, I sat down with Robert Muggah, one of the visualisation's creators, for an interview.